Brayden picked up his first pair of AFOs today. I did not remember ordering something so jazzy...He tried them on and was not happy about them at all. Then stomped his feet on his wheelchair. The noise or the hard feeling made him even more mad. After several minutes he settled in and did not seem to mind.
After the office, we headed to Stride Rite. We tried on several pairs of shoes; something that was wide enough for his extra wide feet and with the AFOs on (I don't think they make a quadruple wide). We found one pair and still it looks like the shoe is going to explode.We might be giving those "special" ortho shoes a try (ugh) because he feet and AFOs barely fit.
The first day he keeps them on for an hour and add an hour after that each day. Eventually, it looks like he could be wearing them most of the day.
5 comments:
Stride Rite (for us) is the best place to get shoes. Keep this in mind...1. shoes with vecro straps can work, just take the shoe to a shoe-repair place and they will lengthen the straps to wrap over and fit the shoe/AFO.
And 2. We actually have cut out the tongue of a stride rite tennis shoe before to lessen the bulk of the shoe and it worked fabulously. The shoe also had a velcro strap that actually did not need lengthened bc the tongue was gone.
I think ortho shoes are heavier and even bulkier but you may find they work for you guys...good luck.
By the way, snazzy AFO's!
They really do look cool! We don't get the option of patterns on them (at least I don't think so). Good luck finding shoes. Shoe shopping for Emily is very difficult too. I have not tried to buy ones that fit over her AFO's yet, but I am already dreading it!
most of my students' parents take the insole out of the shoe, order a wide (1-1.5 sizes bigger than their normal size) and then they seem to work fine with the AFOs.
i've heard of this company, but have no first-hand experience.
http://www.hatchbacksfootwear.com/index.htm
very snappy looking AFOs. :)
I know they are difficult at first, but they have done wonders for Waverly. We go to Shoe Train in Potomac MD. Ed is the owner and master at fitting AFOS. He orders multiple shoes in XW. Wavey tends to get New Balance tennies, but we have also been able to find cute Mary Jane style shoes, too. He can stretch them and cuts them in order to get the best fit. Taking out the insole is vital in getting a good fit.
I have had parents who have had luck at the outlet store because they typically have the wider shoes that don't sell in the regular stores. Also, Target usually sells shoes that are ok with the AFOs.
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